Biophoton emission now belongs to a topical field of modern science: It concerns a weak light emision from biological systems. Such molecular events are clearly compatible with collective phenomena as shown by recent developments in the life sciences such as the chaos theory. This book is concerned with the “optical window” of biological interactions and in view of their correlations to many biological functions they provide a powerful, non-invasive tool of analysing biological systems. Topics include food science, pollution, efficacy of drugs including the treatment of cancer and immune diseases, and communication phenomena such as consciousness.
The collection of articles in this book covers the historical background, the physics of biophoton emission, those biological phenomena which show evidence of a “holistic” character, and finally discusses applications and biological evolution. This volume serves to bring researchers up-to-date on the subject and draws attention to the many exciting findings that are widely scattered in the scientific literature.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_fmatter
The following sections are included:
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0001
A careful analysis of all the experimental data of biophoton emission (concerning correlations to biological and physiological processes, the temperature dependence, the spectral distribution, the optical transparency, the dependence on external agents, the photocount statistics, and ergodic relaxation behaviour) enforces to reject the hypothesis that this weak radiation originates from spontaneous chemiluminescence. On the other hand, all results agree completely with the alternative hypothesis of a coherent field as the source of biophoton emission. The arguments and objections are discussed from the classical point of view as well as from quantum description. The latter is the proper one due to the obvious fact that single count-emission has to be assigned to quantum theory.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0002
In three cases, one originating from a classical model, the second from the time-evolution operator, and the third from photocount statistics, it is shown that an initially excited coherent field which remains coherent in time development relaxes according to a hyperbolic rather than to an exponential law.
This has particular relevance for the analysis of biological systems.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0003
Quantum theory of biophoton emission from a system of N biomolecules according to the Dicke model is presented by taking account of the interaction of collective biomolecules with both “pumping field” and biophoton field. Analytical expressions describing the steady-state behaviour of both the collective biomolecules and the emission field are derived, such as populations of biomolecules in all levels and their fluctuations, emission intensities, intensity correlations, and spectral distributions. Dynamic evolution of the system after excitation is also investigated and a set of expressions for the decay of the collective biomolecules and the corresponding emission rate is obtained.
The analytical results predict, in the limit N → ∞, a nonequilibrium first-order phase transition of all quantities under consideration, with respect to a parameter x related to all factors of the system. Critical point x = 1 of the phase transition marks a transition of the working point of the system from “cooperative region” (x < 1) to “individual region” (x > 1), or from “ordered state” to “chaotic state”. The individual region corresponds to a group of molecules without correlation to each other, whereas the biomolecules in the cooperative region display the long- range and long-time cooperative effects in all their aspects. In general, living systems may be expected to work within a very narrow region of variation of the parameter x around x = 1.
Finally, a comparison of the theoretical results with the corresponding experimental observations from several biological samples is shown.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0004
In this paper we will show first that the term “coherence” in quantum theory has to be considered as a fundamental physical concept for all matter waves, as important as Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. Then we discuss cooperative radiation phenomena and the possibility of communication in living systems by the use of some extreme optical effects of quantum nature, which can be displayed only by a photon emission with very weak intensity.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0005
We discuss first the possibility of coherent emission of DNA molecules caused by the cooperative motions of DNA bases on the basis of Dicke's radiation theory which represents a general model of the real properties of all radiation sources. Then we consider the interactions between electromagnetic waves and mechanical base oscillations which can be assigned to polaritons, as in solid state physics, e.g. the joint vibrations between photons and phonons in DNA molecular skeleton.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0006
Some basic problems of biophoton measurements are discussed. One of the equipments which has been used for most of the measurements of this volume is described in more detail. Some results of signal/noise-ratio, spectral quantum efficiency and long-time stability are presented.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0007
We have investigated spontaneous and light-induced photon emission by suspensions of rat hepatocytes and of hepatoma cell lines. Rat hepatocytes exhibit spontaneous biophoton emission but that of hepatoma cell lines was not detectable. After irradiation with white light, the reemission intensity was also found to be different for the various cell types studied with hepatocytes yielding the lowest value and the least differentiated tumor cell line the highest value.
The decay kinetics and wavelength dependency of light-induced photon emission of HTC hepatoma cells was investigated after illumination with white light and light passing through different coloured filters. The mechanisms of spontaneous and light-induced photon emission by mammalian cells are completely different.
Induced photon emission was neither influenced by anaerobiosis nor by the intactness of the cells. Cell-fractionation studies demonstrate that the induced photon emission was caused by the nuclear fraction and by isolated chromatin. Phenol-extracted DNA, however, has lost this capacity. Our data suggest that differences in the chromatin structure may explain the cell-specific induced photon emission.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0008
Practically all cells emit light at a steady rate from a few photons per cell per day to several photons per cell per second, which is readily detected with a sensitive photomultiplier placed with the cells in a dark chamber. It is widely accepted that at least a part of the emitted light results from radical reactions, but chromatin has also been suggested to be the source of this ultra-weak radiation in living cells.
Although the emission of this light is very low in mammalian cells, recent studies have demonstrated that the nature of this radiation can also be studied as rescattered emission after a brief illumination with an ordinary light source. Using this experimental design, we have investigated the contribution of nuclei to the ultra-weak photon re-emission in Cloudman S 91 mouse melanoma cells. In all experiments reported here, it turns out that the nuclei make the greatest, if not the entire contribution to this radiation indicating that chromatin acts as a photon store emitting partially coherent light which may be involved in the control of gene activity, cell metabolism and cell communication.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0009
Ultraweak photon emission as well as biochemical and other parameters, DNA synthesis, and cell number were measured as a function of the cell division cycle in yeast cultures, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, synchronized with the α factor.
The investigations show that the self-emission of yeast follows a cell division cycle pattern with increases in the late S phase to the G2 phase. The spectrum of the emitted photons is continuous with a maximum in the UV- and blue-region.
This characteristic pattern of photon emission is obliterated only in the presence of the uncouplers of the electrontransport DNP, or FCCP (above a concentration of 10−5M), and the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide.
There is no influence on the photon emission pattern after addition of:
• the inhibitors of the respiratory chain, oligomycine(B),
• the mtDNA synthesis inhibitor of yeast, ethidium bromide.
All the results suggest that the ultraweak photon emission is associated with a biological function in which the cell nucleus may play a fundamental role. They support the electromagnetic hypothesis of cell differentiation38,39 which states that the DNA acts as a photon store, emitting at least partially coherent light.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0010
This paper presents a summary of the first complete investigation of the ultraweak luminescence of living systems carried out for the cells undergoing a cell cycle. The material under study were fractions of generative cells of larch being in the same, well determined stages of a male meiosis and pollen grain formation as in anthers of Larix europaea Mill.
The separation procedure employed in this work enables one to obtain highly homogenous cell fractions at a minimum perturbation of the physiological state of the cells. This feature is especially important because at a well known, high sensitivity of the ultraweak luminescence it allows for data to be obtained about every factor capable of influencing homeostasis of a living system. This data can be considered as real characteristics of the system of interest.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0011
Populations of synchronously developing Drosophila embryos emit light at a high level shortly after oviposition (when development begins), diminishing linearly in the first two hours to a steady rate that is maintained for at least the next 16 hours. On being stimulated briefly with white light, they re-emit strongly, the rescattered light decaying hyperbolically as typical of all living systems previously examined. The rate of light rescattering increases sharply between 15 to 40 min. from the start of development, then follows a more gentle rise to a plateau at around three to three and a half hours. Self-emission and light rescattering are most intense and dynamic during early development when pattern determination processes are taking place.
When the embryos are briefly exposed to light within 40 min. of development, an entirely new phenomenon is observed in the form of intense luminescent flashes which can appear any time from one to 20 min., and up to 8 hr. after light stimulation. The total number of flashes differs between experiments, and the duration of individual flashes also varies from less than 1 s up to 30 minutes. We discuss the possibility that these superdelayed luminescent flashes may result from cooperative interactions among the embryos in the entire population, which may have biological significance in the synchronization of development to external light as Zeitgeber.
Our results suggest that biophoton emission can be used as a noninvasive probe of the physical state of the embryos which is inaccessible by conventional chemical or biochemical means.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0012
Among the many subjects of the research on low level luminescence from biological matter, one of the most important applicative features, the possibility of using the parameters connected to photon emission from human tissues to detect cancer pathologies, is discussed. A survey of the experimental work of the last years in this field is presented together with the experimental data collected at the University of Catania. The problems of the conditions under which the measurements should be carried out, those of the normalization of the emission rate and of the choice of the measurement technique, and then of the characteristic parameters of the involved processes, are discussed. On the basis of the results shown it should be possible to discriminate between normal and tumour tissues.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0013
The decay kinetics of delayed luminescence (200ms to 100s) in Acetabularia acetabulum were investigated with excitation sources of different intensity, wavelength and duration. The results are as follows:
1. The decay kinetics are hyperbolic, characterized by parameters that seem to be independent of excitation wavelength.
2. Clear oscillations are present, which are near periodic in a logarithmic time scale.
3. Both decay parameters and oscillations are significantly altered on poisoning the Acetabularia.
The possibility that the delayed luminescence is a coherent emission from the living organism is examined.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0014
At first, the model organism Daphnia magna and the experimental conditions are described. Later on, three typical results of the density characteristic of the photon intensity for three stages of development (juvenile, adolescent, adult) are shown. For the adolescent stage there is evidence of a relationship between the mean distance of the animals and the intensity of the photons.
The results are qualitatively discussed with regard to the mutual interactions in swarm formation on the basis of the theory of Dicke.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0015
The destructive interference which, as a consequence of Dicke's theory, provides a powerful mechanism of biological regulation, is discussed in terms of the uncertainty principle. This enables to frame the fields where these tools of superradiance and subradiance can be used by living systems. Some striking examples (population formation of daphnia and tumour growth) show that this concept helps to understand yet unexplained phenomena in biology and medicine.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0016
The present investigations on the properties of delayed luminescence (DL) from air dry cress seeds give indications for the existence as well as for the biological significance of optical couplings in living systems.
A nonlinear increase of DL with respect to the mass (emitting surface) of seed samples is observed. This observation cannot be explained in terms geometrical parameters because the effect is independent of the sample surface that is exposed to the detector.
Long term studies of DL uncover a complex rhythmical pattern of reemission intensities which do not completely confirm a former proposed mechanism for the explanation of temporal changes of delayed luminescence from the seeds. Correlations between temporal changes of DL and other rhythmical processes observed in seeds indicate a close connection between the biological clock and light emission in seeds.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0017
The biophoton measurement can be used as a method complementary to chemical analysis:
• Heating influences causing internal changes of the milk are detectable, especially after illumination with red or green light. The milk can be regarded as a non-thermal resonator whose quality is dependent of the resonator effectiveness Qν. The higher the light storage capacity of the resonator (milk) the lower is the intensity of the emission after illumination. The more the resonator is destroyed by heating, the higher is the intensity of the emission after illumination or the higher is the leaking stream iν.
• The origin of hen's eggs is detectable by the biophoton measurement. Free range eggs exhibit a higher emission rate after white light illumination because they have a higher amount of stored energy Uν than eggs from soil or cages. Light illumination leads to a kind of induced emission so that the stored energy Uν is released. The ChiHyp-value, as a measure of non-agreement with a hyperbolic relaxation kinetics after light illumination, is influenced by the hens' exposure to the sun. Free range eggs exhibit a nearly hyperbolic relaxation dynamic, but eggs from soil or cages exhibit a nearly exponential decay. The agreement with a hyperbolic relaxation can be regarded as a measure of internal order.
• The quality of vegetable oils can be characterized by the biophoton parameters, e.g. the self-emission, the emission rate after white or red light illumination. A high emission rate after red light illumination indicates decomposition procedures due to aging, poor storage etc. An objective classification of the oils can be made by a factorial analysis using the first three factors.
• The irradiation of food induces a breaking of chemical bonds and the formation of radicals. Some of these radicals can react with other food components leading to a varity of products and some radicals can remain in a long living stable state. By the illumination with light of different wavelengths the excited radicals fall down to their ground state and emit the energy difference as light. So, irradiated foodstuffs exhibit a much higher emission rate after light illumination than non-irradiated ones.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0018
Two examples, one concerning the bio-indication of natural and synthetic plant extracts, the other quality of water, show evidence that biophoton emission provides a powerful tool of investigating the efficacy of external influences. This methods is of high accuracy and reliability.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0019
We re-analyse the so called de Broglie's paradox and the EPR phenomenon, taking into account the coherence properties of the Schrödinger wave functions. We find that the wave function describing de Broglie's paradox, and therefore also the interference pattern, would be destroyed by the process of separating the box confining the electron. For the EPR paradox the wave function used by the original authors represents not two particles but a single entity. This resolves the EPR paradox phenomenon.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0020
The photon emission of all living matter can be utilized as a signature for monitoring the weakest external impact. The postulated dark matter in the Universe follows from astrophysical-cosmological considerations and must also interact with living matter, giving rise to biochemical changes, which are accompanied by the emission of “biophotons”. Then “biophotons” may be the signal of a dark matter reaction with the living state.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0021
Biological evolution is discussed in term of the optimization of the signal/noise-ratio of living systems. By integrating longer and longer coherence lengths into this procedure, biological systems “conquer” always larger areas of the spatio-temporal reality. This expansion of coherent states provides a guide line of evolution where the basis of communication provides a deterministic development, while the contents remain completely undetermined.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0022
The concept of the nonequilibrium molecular organization of living systems based upon the phenomenon of mitogenetic radiation (ultraweak ultraviolet luminescence of biological systems) and the theory of vectorial cellular fields elaborated by A.G. Gurvich in the 1940's are presented. The experimental data given in the second part of the paper are related to muscle radiation studied in in vivo conditions. They characterize some properties of the structural and energetic processes in the sarcoplasm of a rested muscle, which seem to be important and specific for maintaining the rested state of the muscle.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_0023
The present paper suggests an alternative approach, which is the theory of the vectorial biological field developed by Alexander G. Gurvich (1874-1954), to the biological thought of modern molecular biology. The power of this field theory may cover all levels of biological organizations – morphological, cellular and molecular one. This theory has been used as a tool to explain a wide range of biological phenomena from metabolic processes to the psychic sphere.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814439671_bmatter
The following sections are included: